I don't get anyone can have against Pinkie. She's a fun girl. If she'd be worrying about people's feeling instead she'd be Fluttershy.

FYI let me rant about the Halloween episode a bit, because people asked and I think the patting each other on the back over not hating on new!Luna may have died down by now. (I swear, the anticipation for fanrage was waay worse than anything that actually happened. It's sad because it's like people were looking forward to unleash themselves on those who didn't like canon!Luna in the name of love and friendship. Oh, yee errant fanboys.)

I thought the episode was very unsatisfying. Not badly done; just...Unremarkable.

Pip could've been a good character (people were really pumped up to see him) but I agree with what someone else already said some pages back, that if they were only going to do only so much with him there was no need to create a new character, and if they did, he should've have been more unique and likeable. As it was, he was more of a moutpiece for the plot than how I was able to accept that a person would actually act.

Luna, oh Luna. Or maybe there is some hidden joke here with the Voice and the royal behavior that I'd have to be UK-born to "get", but the "large ham" and "tolerance for the scary" shtick was already done a lot better with Trixie and Zecora. I wanted there to be more to her personality.

Now, my other concern about her is not as much a complaint as a concern. Good!Luna scares me more than Discord did. She's basically Nightmare Moon reformed. So I'm afraid that now since she's by far the darkest character around, she'll be too scary for a children's show, and will be used max once every season. I can see her living in the old castle rather than Canterlot, too. (Maybe there'll be a Hasbro set for it, too.) And I really do not want more "sympathy for the dark sister" episodes. When it is done with Zecora, it seems like a reasonable lesson about tolerance. I do not know what there is to gain from it in this case.

I'm aware that there is nothing that enough fansplaining couldn't make work (like the "thousand years old yet doesn't have a single friend/never had fun" thing, which also bothered me a bit), and I know that this is "good enough" for kids who are exposed for cartoons for the first time. I really don't get the adult viewer's reactions, though.

I'm expanding my iPod library to have some pony songs I grabbed from YouTube. Mwahahaha.

Pretty much everything you said is true, but personally, I enjoyed Hammy Luna. I thought she was better as a character than Fanon!Luna ever was. I never get tired of Large Hams either, so I didn't have the same fatigue problems that you seemed to have.

Pip was pointless, but not distractingly so, so he didn't bother me.

She's already friends with everyone in ponyville, so I don't think we'll be seeing more episodes like this one.

edited 24th Oct '11 7:10:07 AM by gingerninja666

Nm wasn't that scary IMO in fact she was hard to take seriously at some points( even if she was a big threat). Personally I don't mind seeing a villain reforming and she was hilarious

edited 24th Oct '11 7:12:23 AM by FallenLegend

MLPFIM s2 is not same kids show like s1. There is not E/I bug. Show can have now more dark stuff.

That's true Canon Luna > Fanon Luna IMO much better than eno Luna that's for sure.

Dark can be cool without being creepy. Without the night, you won't be able to enjoy the shooting stars or get decent sleep.

Luna is more than welcome to show up more in s2 and the almost-inevitable s3. Her complex canon personality is something I want more of.

edited 24th Oct '11 7:36:06 AM by AceOfScarabs

People who don't worry about others feelings are the least qualified to entertain others. Only wanting to have fun without worrying about others comes off as jerkassishness in my opinion. But as I said, she's grown on me a lot.

As for the episode, that's opinion so YMMV. Personally, I found it incredibly entertaining and that's the reason I'm watching, so I consider it one of the better episodes.

EDIT: , Agreed. Also, I also find Ham fun.

edited 24th Oct '11 7:27:41 AM by Sereg

Like rainbow dash?

Edit* yeah I really hope we don't need to wait another season to see her again.

edited 24th Oct '11 7:30:09 AM by FallenLegend

I didn't think that Luna was really scary, except for maybe her entrance scene. And I like the fact that she's basically "Nightmare Moon reformed"; it makes more sense for their personalities to be similar than for Luna to be a completely different character. It's much more entertaining, though.

I agree about Pip, though (I think I might have been the person who first brought this up). He's not a bad character, but I just found him sort of gratuitous. They go to the trouble of introducing him as somebody who's new to the town, but they don't really do anything with it that they couldn't have done with another character.

edited 24th Oct '11 7:30:21 AM by JapaneseTeeth

True. But RD does show occaisional signs of maturity. Plus, I like RD more in the "fun to watch" sense. Same with Pinkie when she isn't annoying me (which really was only the early episodes).

To me:

Twilight Sparkle>Fluttershy>Rainbow Dash>Applejack>Rarity>Pinkie Pie.

Agreed completely. As for Pip, I hope they do something with him, because he has potential and is cute, but this episode, he wasn't particularly necessary. A CMC could have sufficed.

edited 24th Oct '11 7:33:01 AM by Sereg

I still wonder why NM wasn't speaking in the royal canterlot voice when she first appeared though.

Mine's: AJ > Twilight > Fluttershy > RD > Rarity > Pinkie

edited 24th Oct '11 7:33:45 AM by gingerninja666

Directly after being reformed? She was, weak, ashamed and speaking to her sister (who isn't a subject and therefore shouldn't be yelled at).

EDIT: Huh! Close to mine. Only AJ's position is different and I'd like AJ far more as a friend than I currently do as a character.

edited 24th Oct '11 7:35:56 AM by Sereg

Luna so pretty and normally has made art of the human form of her new look. I hope I worded that right

I meant when she was ACTUALLY NM

yeah, but AJ's my personal favourite. Go wholesomeness!

edited 24th Oct '11 7:36:33 AM by gingerninja666

That's a good point! Nm never refered to herself as "we" did she?

One concept I appreciate in fanon is the idea of gifting Luna with the domain of dreams so she could continue to be with her subjects even when they dream.

and it would've made for a great Venom comparison as well

edited 24th Oct '11 7:39:46 AM by gingerninja666

mind if I use that?

edited 24th Oct '11 7:43:37 AM by RandomChaos

I don't know, inserting yourself into somepony else's dreams could come across as a bit creepy.

Not to mention: If she could do that, why would she have become NM in the first place? Her loneliness issues would've been fixed

edited 24th Oct '11 7:52:25 AM by gingerninja666

@Random Chaos: feel free to run with that :D

@ginger: we could give it to her during the fanfic perhaps? Or maybe ponies were scared of her Inceptioning her way into their private dream-worlds.

edited 24th Oct '11 7:55:08 AM by AceOfScarabs

Appearing in anothers dream is creepy only if done so. Hell, how fun would it be to be lucid dreaming and having a friend over your crazy dream?

EDIT: Assuming that if Luna would have appeared in someponys dreams, they would have regarded the whole thing as that: a dream. It's like someone would never remember meeting you, even if you have many times. That or ponies don't remember dreams too well. So Luna would have been in a cycle of being forgotten the whole time.

... Or then simply she couldn't got "dream surfing."

edited 24th Oct '11 7:56:46 AM by KuroFox

Luna beck evil not just because nobody appreciated her night. But also because nobody seemed to care for her ( being her friend)

edited 24th Oct '11 7:56:24 AM by FallenLegend

I can sorta agree with Vree; I enjoyed "Luna Eclipsed", but it doesn't have quite the same zing as some of the best episodes. Then again, not everything can be Totally Awesome, and there's nothing wrong with going low-key for a bit (especially after how the first three episodes of the season went all over the emotional spectrum).

And I definitely don't get the anti-Pinkie hate. She might be a bit oblivious at times, but she never has ill intent towards anypony. If Pinkie had known that Luna was getting upset at everyone screaming at the sight of her, she'd be the first to organize a "Hooray Luna is The Bestest Princess" party.

As for Luna, I expect any future appearances from her will be limited to cameos with a handful of lines, probably similar to Celestia but with Ye Olde Worlde English thrown in.

Finally, despite what some fans think, I don't think Pip's part in "Luna Eclipsed" could've been replaced by anyone, especially not the Cutie Mark Crusaders. If the CMC were featured in this story, we'd eat up 10 minutes of air time with Scootaloo trying to fight Princess Luma, Sweetie Belle lamenting the end of Nightmare Night, and Applebloom trying to form the CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS CANDY CHAMPIONS or somesuch... taking time away from Twilight's attempts to solve the problem. Instead, Pipsqueak comes in, establishes himself as a Nightmare Night newbie, tells Luna that being scared is part of the fun, and the story avoids being derailed by the CMC's schtick.

—R.J.